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Elizabeth Weintraub
Why Sacramento Home Inspectors Note Petty Items in Reports
Sacramento home inspectors go out of their way to find defects, big and small.
When Sacramento home inspectors note petty items in reports, it is not their fault. The purpose of the inspection is thoroughness. They are also not trying to upset home sellers, but they often do. I don’t know why they can’t send home inspectors to an English class to learn ways to present findings in an easy-to-understand manner. Some just grunt and don’t write any words. They instead check boxes. The horrible boxes are always a scary red, too. Meant to instill fear in the heart of any buyer reading it.
The fact is Sacramento home inspectors are looking for a defect or something unusual to describe. In part, because that’s their freakin’ job. Also, in part, because if they don’t find something wrong, it’s bad. It’s bad because the buyer will think she a) wasted her money or b) the inspector isn’t doing a good job.
So, they try to be very thorough. If the only thing Sacramento home inspectors can find is a burned out lightbulb, that’s what he or she will report. Maybe a crack in the sidewalk. If they can’t figure out why the furnace won’t turn on, they will recommend further investigation. Sometimes, a home inspector recommends further investigation for, say, a gas fireplace, when there is nothing wrong. The problem is all inspectors don’t necessarily know how every gas fireplace works. Why should they? It’s not their house.
I actually don’t understand why most home buyers hire a home inspector to look at visible things they can see with their own eyes. One would think buyers would be more concerned about hiring a roof inspector to check out the roof, an HVAC specialist, a plumber, and maybe an electrician to check out the house wiring. Those people are specialists, not to mention, ahem, licensed.
Sacramento home inspectors are not licensed as a requirement. There is no licensing division for home inspections. There is little reason to get upset when an inspector reports minor issues. Rejoice. Nothing serious is wrong. It’s just a disclosure. Not a death sentence.
But most buyers don’t want to pay the big bucks and they’d rather pay some rogue general home inspector they found online to inspect what is about to become the biggest investment of their life. At the very least, a buyer should get a good referral from his or her agent.
Working With Sacramento Buyers Nobody Else Will Help
Working with Sacramento buyers nobody else will work with is rewarding.
Every agent on the Elizabeth Weintraub Team works with ultra high-end buyers but we also end up working with Sacramento buyers nobody else will help. It’s part of our mission to focus on client-centered goals and not ourselves. Everybody on the team is onboard with that statement. Being human, we might moan a little bit when we get that tiny paycheck but we rejoice at the joy it brings our clients. And it all evens out in the end.
I’ve noticed, however, that some agents act like prima donnas. I recall once telling a buyer’s agent she would have to crawl through the bathroom window to show a certain listing I had, so wear pants. Every agent I gave those same showing instructions to refused. But this particular agent said OK, and she put the transaction into escrow and closed. I took her to lunch.
You do what you’ve got to do. That’s what makes real estate so much fun. You never know what type of person will call or need our services. Working with Sacramento buyers nobody else will help is rewarding. And it’s not just the price points for these particular buyers. Some of them possess some sort of fairy-tale ideas about how to buy a house. Many agents would say forget this hassle. But we welcome it because it gives us a chance to explain and educate. We don’t shy away because a buyer holds a different point of view from the real world.
People don’t know what they don’t know. Especially when we’re working with Sacramento buyers nobody else will help. I listen to them tell me they want to buy a foreclosure because they found a cheap foreclosure on Zillow and, when they finish, I educate. I am very aware that these are also people who get sucked into seminars by speakers who don’t do what they preach.
Two of my five husbands were seminar speakers and I am quite familiar with the dog-and-pony shows. I know exactly what kind of underhandedness goes on. So when a buyer nobody else wants to work with calls me, I don’t put them down for their beliefs or belittle their ideas. But I do set them straight. I take the time to turn them around. To explain how things really work and how we can help them. Because we give a damn.
That’s what Sacramento real estate is about. It’s called conversion. It’s about sharing a top producer’s knowledge and experience to help clients achieve their goals. If we can change the way they attempt to do this along the way, why, I think I’ve done a good thing! It’s not about expressing: forget you. You’re too much trouble. It’s about listening between the lines and turning dreams into reality.
When Is a Sacramento Seller Entitled to Receive the Buyer’s Appraisal?
Under most instances, a home seller is not entitled to receive the buyer’s appraisal.
My basic method of operation is not to worry too much about the buyer’s appraisal when I list Sacramento condos in our hot seller’s market. In other words, I don’t always base the sales price on how much the home will appraise for as much as I suggest a price based on what the market will bear. Meaning, what a buyer will pay. Especially a buyer who might have a big ol’ wad of cash at her disposal. Buyers who don’t need financing can pay whatever the seller will accept.
Condos tend to command lower prices than single-family homes, sometimes as much as 50% less. This means they make a good investment for some investors. Investors often pay cash. So do many 1031 exchange investors. No buyer’s appraisal with these kind of buyers.
Consider a condo I sold in the Arden area a while back. A still slightly underwater condo. Priced it high enough and marketed it in such a way to attract multiple offers. Every top listing agent’s dream. We hoped a buyer would pay cash, and could push the price even higher. That happened. I changed the financing terms to cash. No loans.
But today’s market also includes buyers with financing. Sometimes the buyer’s appraisal will come in at the sales price, even if we can’t find decent comps. The appraiser finds a way. But not all appraisers go to such lengths, and available comps within a 2 mile radius to support the sales price might not exist in this market.
Not surprisingly, a low appraisal allows the seller to receive a copy of the buyer’s appraisal. When the appraised value does not support our pending sales price. Otherwise, if the home appraises for more than the sales price, which is unlikely, the seller would never know.
Unless . . . there is always a big UNLESS. Unless it’s pertinent to the sale. That’s a kicker for ya. Last month a buyer’s appraisal showed different square footage than the number in the public records. It was higher. So, I asked the agent for the appraisal. Turns out the home appraised for more than our sales price due to the increased square footage.
Da-da-DAAAAA. Long-story-short. The buyer paid the higher price.
Of interest to note: the seller is entitled to all reports and inspections a buyer pays for during escrow. Except for the buyer’s appraisal. The seller is generally not entitled to receive the appraisal. Except under limited conditions.
How About Ways a Listing Agent Markets Homes in Sacramento?
A top listing agent markets homes in Sacramento to present the best light.
Certain buyer’s agents in Sacramento have their own thoughts about ways this listing agent markets homes in Sacramento. They have their very own reality. Crafted on isolated personal experiences that bear little resemblance to my world. Sometimes I am tempted to say, hey, dial it back. When you are selling $30 to $40 million a year, you can speak from my point of view. But I don’t because being snarky serves no purpose. No reason to alienate agents, either.
Some buyer’s agents believe listing agents should paint a stark picture of the house and disclose every single drawback about it upfront. From their point of view, I can see why they might harbor those irrational thoughts. Sometimes they complain about my photographs. I don’t do anything special to the photos. No distortion, nor do they look like a fish-eye lens. My professional photographer shoots high definition. His wonderful photos evoke emotion.
Ways a Top Listing Agent Markets Homes Does Not Include Negative Aspects
But if a home sits next to an apartment building, believe you me, I am focusing on tight shots that don’t include the apartment building. An agent whined about this recently. Do they not understand that when this listing agent markets homes in Sacramento, only crazy agents point out all the deficiencies. That would be defeatist. Am I a journalist, held to those types of standard? I am not required to showcase barebones in my photos. That’s not how marketing works. This is not a reality TV show. I am not about to show a dead cockroach in the kitchen.
My fiduciary is to my seller. First and last. It is to do a bang-up job at getting buyers in the door. An agent complained that a home featured white carpeting and seemed very upset it wasn’t mentioned in the way this listing agent markets homes in Sacramento. Hello? Photographs. The buyer’s agent can view many photos of white carpeting in MLS. Why is she whining at me about it? I’m left thinking that some agents just like to whine.
Further, seller’s market anyone? Not much inventory for sale. Buyer’s agents may as well show every home they possibly can because that’s all there is. This is yet another reason I firmly believe in specialization. When you’re a specialized listing agent like me, you focus intently only on the seller’s needs. I am listing and selling a home on behalf of my seller. I owe honesty to the buyer. Not due diligence. That’s the buyer’s job, to conduct her own due diligence.
Moreover, real estate is not a job of prancing about with party ponies sporting glued-on unicorns and glitter. A listing agent’s job is very different from a buyer’s agent’s job. Listing agents should present homes in their best light. Listing agents also don’t market negativity, no matter how much buyer’s agents complain.
Because believe me, show me a listing agent who says, “Oh, you don’t want to buy this house,” and I’ll show you a guy working part-time at McDonald’s.
Working with Internet Buyers in Sacramento Real Estate
Sacramento internet buyers find listings and their agents online today.
It wasn’t that long ago, maybe 10 years back, an agent in my office asked why I would work with internet buyers in Sacramento real estate. This was an astounding concept in 2008. That a Sacramento Realtor could be found online by an internet buyer. Most of that search was organic because other agents were not online. They didn’t have websites nor blogs. Today, everybody has a Facebook, Instagram and Twitter account.
Fast forward 10 years later, and I still maintain a higher internet presence. The difference is many buyers today come from the long tail I’ve created online or from websites where buyers go. I stand out in the sea of ordinariness. That’s why internet buyers gravitate toward me. They see value. According to NAR, 66% of first-time home buyers are Millennials. Followed by Generation X at 26%. Buyers value experience.
But some home buyers break protocol and try to work with many different buyer’s agents, which is a bit defeatist for them. They don’t often recognize this strategy as a problem immediately. Internet buyers might think everything is for free because they can find it online. But they can’t find everything online themselves, like they hope. Buying a home is not like picking out a loaf of bread. They really need the services of a top-notch buyer’s agent. Creating value for internet buyers is what working with buyers today is all about.
Buyer’s agents should ask themselves when working with internet buyers whether that individual is a loyal client. I laugh when buyer’s agents refer to some loser, gonna cancel the minute I get into escrow person, as “my client” when that buyer is not a client. If a buyer walks into a real estate brokerage and asks to see a property taped on a window, is that person a client? What do you think? I believe that’s just a customer who asked to see a property.
When a buyer calls a buyer’s agent, it’s the same thing. For whatever reason, the buyer found the agent online. Maybe the agent was featured in a media outlet news story. Perhaps the buyer discovered the agent through a company website? Through Facebook or a digital ad? It’s more common than not to hear a buyer’s agent refer to a potential buyer as “my client” when they’ve known the individual for all of 22 seconds. That kind of behavior among agents should just stop.
Internet buyers turn into clients when they continually engage with a buyer’s agent. When they ask questions and listen to responses. When they respond to emails. When both parties establish mutual respect. If an internet buyer fails to respond, it means she is not a client. For whatever reason, she doesn’t feel the love, the connection. Or she has formed a bad opinion of real state estate agents in general due to some horrible past experience.
Understanding Internet Buyers
However, the cold fact is all internet buyers search online. They think they can find a house for sale before their agent will find it. They send countless emails containing requests to see homes that are not for sale because they found those listings on Zillow, for example. To deal with this, buyer’s agents need to show compassion for internet buyers. One of the worst things a buyer’s agent can do is make the internet buyer feel stupid or inadequate.
It’s one thing to say, “thank you for trying to help me,” and it’s another to say what the hell are you doing looking at houses for sale on Zillow when all of that stuff is garbage and half of it is sold? It’s better to explain that Zillow does not allow agents to input their own listings anymore, so nothing that shows up in MLS will be on Zillow before it is in MLS. Yes, MLS rules. But garbage in, garbage out.
Personally, I love it that so much is available online for internet buyers. I often go to The Balance Homebuying website and pull articles from experienced agents, including myself, to send to clients. But some of the advice found elsewhere online is completely wrong. Whenever you get a bunch of agents in one place, you will get a large variety of opinions. Some useful, some not. My advice is always consider the source. This is wise advice for any online searches.
Why Internet Buyers Choose a Buyer’s Agent
But at the end of the day, internet buyers still can benefit from the services rendered by an experienced buyer’s agent in Sacramento. The Elizabeth Weintraub Team provides internet buyers with a complete list of our services, from A to Z, start to finish. Because internet buyers do not know why they should be loyal to one agent unless the agent gives them a reason. If an agent can’t produce 50 reasons to show why that buyer should work with that agent and adequately explain the value the agent brings, maybe agents should reconsider their approach.
Remember, internet buyers don’t know what agents really do. They view the job of a buyer’s agent as easy. Doing it right, the job is messy, statistical, analytical, time consuming, painful, exhilarating; relying solely on experience to learn and education to grow.
Buyer’s agents might ask themselves, are we simply a door opener? It’s easy for internet buyers to click that button to request a showing. Or, are we knowledgable buyer’s agents dedicated to the passion of finding that perfect home for an internet buyer? Winning the offer. Successfully closing escrow. The commitment and guarantee of performance will turn an Internet buyer into a satisfied client.
Besides, we all want that 5-star review nowadays. The difference is an extraordinary buyer’s agent earns it in blood.
